The Midnight Man
by MommyI'mOnTheInternet
Summary: For Pony's 15th birthday, his friend Carrie invites him and the gang to play a game. The Midnight Man game. Of course, none of them know that it's not some silly game. It's real and it's dangerous and if they want to stay sane and alive, they better start running.
1. Chapter 1

**Let me start out by saying don't ever try the Midnight Man game. You can if you would like to but your own risk. Okay, that'll be all. Oh and Johnny and Dallas are still alive, the whole experience happened just Johnny got out of the church in time.**

Ponyboy Curtis's 15th birthday was tomorrow. He knew nothing special was going to happen. The gang would just eat tons of chocolate cake then go play football or something. Same thing that happened every year and usually the same people were the only ones to remember. Until Carrie Pennington skipped up to him while he was walking home from school on Friday.

"Happy Birthday, Ponyboy!" Carrie said excitedly. Pony smiled at her. He had always liked her. She wasn't a Soc or a Greaser. Just a normal girl who didn't have to worry about that sort of stuff. In fact, he didn't even think she knew what a Greaser and a Soc are.

"Thanks," Pony replied.

"I have an idea. You should come over to my house tonight. I found this game in a book I was reading. I'm to scared to do it alone so I decided you should do it to, for your birthday." Carrie seemed so excited that Ponyboy couldn't say no even if he wanted to.

"Sure, but I was supposed to do something with the gang-"

"You can bring them! Bring anyone you'd like! The more the less scary," Carrie said, rolling on the balls of her feet.

"Be there at eight,"

"I will." After a final goodbye, Carrie took off towards her home, skipping. She was always so happy. Pony smiled the whole way home, blushing like a maniac.

When he got home. Two-bit was watching TV with Johnny and drinking a beer. Darry was still at work, so was Soda.

"Why are you so red, Pony?" Two-bit asked after seeing the tomato-faced boy. Pony just blushed more and walked into the kitchen.

"I'm going to Carrie's house tonight. She wants to do something for my birthday," He shouted from the kitchen. Two-Bit laughed and turned to Johnny.

"Looks like Pony's got himself a girlfriend," Johnny smiled but didn't say anything. After what happened with Bob he was still scared. But seemed like the fear had faded since he got rid of what was scaring him, but only slightly. He didn't have to go to jail since it was self-defense.

"She's not my girlfriend. She said you guys could come too, if you want." Pony said sitting down in between Johnny and Two-Bit.

"That girl is one of the nicest and happiest girls I know, of course I'll go." Two-bit said before getting up to get another beer.

"You better not be drunk when we go! What about you Johnny, you wanna go?"

"Carrie's the one with the thirteen year old brother who broke Dally's nose, right?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, that's her,"

"I'll go then."

A few hours later, an hour till eight, Soda and Steve came home along with Darry.

"Hey, Darry, can I go to Carrie Pennington's house tonight? Johnny and Two-Bit are coming and I'm going to see if Soda and Steve want to too," Darry was quiet for a moment until he turned ad nodded.

"Yeah sure, just no funny business," Pony smiled and went back to join the others. Dallas was the only one who wasn't there; he was in the cooler once again for reasons unknown to Pony.

At ten to eight Ponyboy, Johnny, Two-Bit, Soda, and Steve made there way to Carries house.

"How do you know where she lives, Ponyboy?" Soda asked.

"She twisted her ankle once after school and I helped her walk home."

They reached Carrie's house, which was a small one-story house plus a basement. The grass was dead and the only living thing in the front yard was a large tree that was eerie looking in the dark. When Pony knocked on the door, they could here someone shuffling inside and the sound of something crashing to the floor before the door opened. Carrie stood before them holding a bag of plain chocolate chips.

"Happy Birthday!" She greeted and ushered everyone through the door. Her house was very bright inside with lots of photos of her and her family everywhere.

"Is Travis here?" Steve asked. Carrie nodded and shuffled over to the stairs leading to the basement

"Travis! They're here!" She yelled down the stairs. A few seconds later, the messy haired blue-eyed boy appeared. Travis Pennington worked with Soda and Steve at the DX and was in his senior year of high school.

"Well, let's get this party started!"

For the next three and a half hours the seven teenagers laughed and messed around. They played poker, which often ended up with someone wrestling another. They were all so happy and so unaware of the tragedy that they will face. Finally at 11:40 Carrie quieted everyone down.

"Who wants to play a game?" She asked.

"What game is it?" Two-Bit answered with a question.

"It's called the Midnight Man-" Carrie opened up a large and very old looking book "-It's highly recommended that we shouldn't play it, unless we are thrill seekers. So if any of you don't want to play, then leave." No one moved. Carrie continued explaining the game.

"Step one is to right our names on a piece of paper the prick our fingers with a needle and drop a little blood on to the paper. Then we place the paper in front of the front door. Step 3 light a candle. Step 4 knock on the front door 22 times and the 22nd knock must be at midnight, or else it won't work. The open the door, blow out the candle, close the door and immediately relight the candle. The goal after that is to survive he Midnight Man. We have to walk around with our individual candles avoiding the Midnight Man at all costs until 3:33 am. If your candle blows out on it's own, the Midnight Man is near and you have ten seconds to relight it. If you cannot relight it then you must surround your self in salt until 3:33. If you fail to do that then the midnight man will attack you and you will have hallucinations of your worse fears until 3:33 am. Any questions?" After Carrie had finished reading everyone was silent. Most were laughing inside; there was no way this could be real, right? It's just a silly trick like Bloody Mary.

"Are there any rules?" Travis asked.

"Um…Do not use someone else's blood on your paper. Do not stay in one spot until 3:33. Do not attempt to fall asleep. Do not leave the house. Do not use any light source other than a candle. Do not try to turn on the lights. And the biggest rule of all . . ." She said the last words loudly and seriously.

"Let's get started."

Carrie wrote down the names of everyone on separate sheets of paper then passed around the needle.

"Do we really have to prick our selves with a needle?" Two-bit asked. Carrie nodded. It was a couple minutes until midnight so the teens waited to knock on the door. Carrie had turned all the lights off and lit the candles. She looked pale and but still looked like her happy self.

"Are you scared?" Pony teased her. She smirked at him.

"Of course I'm not." But she was still pale and slightly rocking in her seat. At 12:59 Carrie got up to knock on the door. With a watch in one hand, she used the other to knock. Right at the 22nd knock, it was midnight. She opened the front door, careful not to step on the papers and the others blew out there candles. The cool spring air flooded in. The street was completely empty and quiet. The only thing that moved was the tree in her front yard. She closed the door and the candles were relit.

"Let the game begin!"

**That is one of the longest things I have written. So I hoped you enjoyed, I'll post chapter two later this week. Review and stuff Kay, bye!**


	2. Hour 1

**Thank you to everyone that reviewed! I got nothing but good reviews, which makes me happy. But most of them were people without accounts so get accounts people! All right so on to the next chapter!**

Johnny wasn't scared. For once in his life, he wasn't. He didn't believe that this "Midnight Man" was real. It's impossible. Something creaked causing Johnny to jump. _It's not real. It's not real_ He told himself. He looked down the hallway to see what made the sound. Carrie was at the end of the hall going into one of the rooms. The candlelight illuminated her already sparkling blue eyes. It was something everyone in her family had, amazing blue eyes. She saw Johnny staring at her and waved. Johnny waved back before she disappeared into the room.

As soon as she was gone, it became suddenly cold. Johnny pulled his jacket tighter around him and continued walking. It got colder and colder until finally, his candle went out. The hallway was sent into darkness except for Carrie's faraway candle. Johnny quickly pulled out a lighter and re lit his candle with only seconds to spare. The cold disappeared with the darkness. Johnny sighed and continued to walk. _It's not real._

Ponyboy was in the kitchen eating some of the left over treats from the party. Two-Bit was with him also stuffing his face with cookies.

"Hey, Pony, you don't actually think this is real right?" Two-Bit asked. Pony shook his head. "Of course not," He answered. He finished his last cookie and walked to one of the few hallways in the small house. A faint light was coming from the room at the end of the hall. Pony followed it and entered the room. It was small and highly undecorated. All that was in it was a bed and a desk. But the walls were covered in pictures of the Pennington family. Some were of Carrie and her friends. The said girl was staring at the pictures and didn't notice Ponyboy. He walked up and stood beside her. The picture closest was of her and her brothers. They were in a tree next to a lake. Travis was on the lowest branch, Carrie in the middle and Quinton, the one who broke Dally's nose, at the top.

"What if it's real?" Pony jumped at the sudden noise. He relaxed when it was only Carrie.

"But it's not."

"But what if it is. What if the Midnight Man gets one of us? People can go crazy from the things he makes you see." They were silent for a moment as Pony thought about what she said. It was true, people could go mad from the things you supposedly see when attacked. But it's not real.

"Even if it is real, you won't have to worry about anything. I'll protect you." Pony said and instantly regretted it. That was one of the stupidest things you could ever say to a girl. But, Carrie turned to him and laughed.  
"Thank you, Pony. I can't think of a better person for the job." Then she kissed him. It was short but sweet and turned Pony into a tomato. He smiled at her and he smiled back. He had never been happier then he was now. Carrie pulled the picture of her brothers and the tree off the wall and ran off. Pony just stood there like an idiot for a few seconds before following her.

Soda and Steve were the only ones still in the living room. Of course them being them they were messing around. Their candles were on the coffee table. The flames were on the verge of going out with the constant wind passing over them. Steve and Soda were playing catch with a football. Suddenly it was cold. So cold that the pair could see their breath. The candles went out.

"Oh no! The candles went out, we better light them. Don't want the Midnight man to get us." But ten seconds were already up. There they were with ten seconds up and no salt. They were just asking for it. Soda got it first. A sharp pain in his head like his brain was being stabbed by millions of tiny needles. Soda screamed and fell to the floor. All he saw were bodies. Hanging from the ceiling mutilated and bloody and naked. They weren't just random bodies; they were his friends and family. Pony, Darry, Steve, the whole gang. Even Sandy and Carrie were there. They fell from the ceiling and crawled towards him. When they opened there mouths nothing but blood would come out. They were groaning and moaning until they were all on top of him tearing his flesh and ripping him apart. The pain was unbearable.

Steve just stared at his friend as he held his head and shook on the ground. "Please! Go away!" He yelled. Steve was afraid to go near his friend, but he was also afraid the Midnight man would get him too. And get him it did. The needles pierced his skull and blood spilled from the walls. The walls ripped open and guts spilled out. Then it rose from the guts. Its eyes were deep dark holes. Its mouth hung open as if it had no jaw. Its teeth were sharp and jagged like a shark. He had no nose just disgusting bubbly skin where it should be. Its body was covered in black. The monster came towards him and began to strangle him. Steve was actually suffocating. It took minutes before he dropped to the ground, dead.

Travis heard a scream from upstairs. He was in the basement, which also doubled as his room.

"Is everything alright up there?" He yelled up the stairs. No reply. Travis picked up his candle and went up stairs. As soon as he reached the living room, he wanted to vomit. Steve was on the floor completely pale with his eyes wide open. Soda was surrounded in a pool of blood with stab wounds all over him. A knife with bloody finger prints not far from his hand. Travis felt sick. He ran to the bathroom and vomited. _It's real, it's real, everything is real. _He thought. It wasn't supposed to be real! It's just a game! But it is a game for the Midnight Man. Travis stood up and washed his face in the sink. They can't stop now; they can't even leave the house. He was just going to have to wait. Wait for it all to end. _Only three hours to go…_


End file.
